One of the stars of the 1970s music group Village People has died aged 75, the band revealed, after a "short but aggressive illness"08:45, 01 Jul 2026Updated 09:13, 01 Jul 20261970s disco group Village People have announced that their lead singer and founding member Victor Willis has died aged 75, following a "short but aggressive illness".The band, known for their hits including school disco classic-turned Donald Trump campaign song YMCA, announced the singer's death on Facebook.Willis performed as lead singer and co-songwriter for all of their most successful singles and would typically appear as a policeman or a naval office on stage.Their official account posted a picture of Willis in his police officer costume, with the words: "We are profoundly sad to announce the death of VICTOR WILLIS, lead singer of Village People. Victor passed on Monday June 30, 2026 of a short but aggressive illness. Privacy is requested."His wife of 19 years, Karen Huff-Willis also shared a statement, sharing her "profound sadness" at losing her husband. She said: "It is with profound sadness that I must announce the death of my husband, Victor Willis." She added the same information about his "aggressive illness" and request for privacy that the Village People did on Facebook, before concluding that it was a "great loss".The group was formed in the 1970s by French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo and lead singer Willis following the release of the debut album Village People, which targeted disco's large gay audience. The group's name referred to Manhattan's Greenwich Village.French producer Morali approached Willis and said: "I had a dream that you sang lead on my album and it went very, very big."The group quickly became popular and moved into the mainstream, scoring several disco hits internationally, including the singles "Macho Man", "In the Navy", "Go West", and "Y.M.C.A." It was equally iconic for the costumes the band members wore, including Willis' police uniform, a Native American, a cowboy and a construction worker.In March 2020, the Library of Congress described "Y.M.C.A." as "an American phenomenon" and added the song to the National Recording Registry, which preserves audio recordings considered to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."Donald Trump hailed the song for helping him win votes as he branded the track the "gay national anthem", despite the Village People denying the link to their song. The pop group even threatened legal action against those who say or allude to it being a homosexual song.The US President made the comments while speaking to crowds on stage at a campaign rally in May.Just before he was about to end his speech to do his signature dance to Y.M.C.A, which has became Trump's trademark, he told the crowd that it helped him win "gay votes" during the election.Trump said: "They have that song. The gay national anthem if you remember. That's why I did so well with the gay vote I think because of that song. I did great with the gay vote. Better than any Republican's ever done by far."However, Village People lyricist Willis hit out at the time, even previously threatening to take legal action. He told people to “get their minds out of the gutter”.In a Facebook post in 2024, after Trump has begun using the track during events, Willis wrote on Facebook: "Come January 2025, my wife will start suing each and every news organisation that falsely refers to YMCA, either in their headlines or alluded to in the base of the story, that YMCA is somehow a gay anthem because such notion is based solely on the song’s lyrics alluding to elicit activity for which it does not.”Speaking around the same time, Willis spoke about how the song had regained huge momentum from Trump using their smash hit.He said: "The financial benefits have been great … YMCA is estimated to gross several million dollars since the President Elect’s continued use of the song. Therefore, I’m glad I allowed the President Elect’s continued use of YMCA. And I thank him for choosing to use my song.”This is a breaking Showbiz news story. You’ll be more likely to see our stories when any big news breaks in future on Google by simply by clicking this link .You can also join The Mirror’s WhatsApp Community or follow us on Google News , Flipboard , Apple News , TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , ** Facebook** , YouTube and Threads - or visit The Mirror homepage .You can sign up for ** ** Twitter/X alerts for breaking news here and follow us ** @‌MirrorCeleb** ** for all the latest updates. Or keep up-to-date with your must-see news, features, videos and pictures by following us on Facebook .**